Dazzling Posters By Toulouse-Lautrec & Mucha At Swann Galleries’: December 16, Auction Of Rare & Important Art Nouveau Posters

New York. Swann Galleries’ annual auction of Rare & Important Art Nouveau Posters on Wednesday, December 16, offers 158 lovely fin-de-siècle images from Europe and the United States including works by well-known, unfamiliar, and anonymous designers.

Of special note is a rare copy of Pierre Bonnard’s groundbreaking advertisement for France Champagne, 1891, which employs a subtle color palette and flowing lettering (first illustration). The poster was a sensation, and inspired Toulouse-Lautrec to try his hand at poster design (estimate $20,000 to $30,000).

Among works by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec are his well-known Divan Japonais, Paris, 1893, depicting his frequent subjects Jane Avril and Yvette Guilbert, visible from the neck down and identifiable by her long black gloves ($10,000 to $15,000), and Troupe de Mlle Églantine, showing Avril and three other can-can dancers, 1896 ($20,000 to $30,000); and the controversial book advertisement for Victor Joze’s Babylone d’Allemagne, 1894 ($12,000 to $18,000).

Highlights by Alphonse Mucha include his celebrated poster for Salon des Cent, from the limited deluxe edition on vellum, with the artist’s signature in pencil ($30,000 to $40,000) (second illustration); four calendar sheets featuring his images of The Seasons, 1897 ($8,000 to $12,000 for the set); and Lefèvre-Utile / Sarah Bernhardt, 1904, a glowing image of the actress endorsing LU Biscuits ($7,000 to $10,000).

Among a run of colorful and lighthearted images by Jules Cheret are Cosmydor Savon, 1891 ($3,000 to $4,000); Théâtre de l’Opéra / Carnaval, 1894 ($4,000 to $6,000); and Pastilles Géraudel, 1895 ($4,000 to $6,000).

The sale also contains a rare, early aviation piece, Roger Jourdain’s Aérodrome de Vichy, promoting a 1909 air show in Vichy held a month prior to the Grande Semaine d’Aviation, which has been considered the first great gathering of airmen (third illustration). Illustrated in the poster are a Wright-Ariel biplane and a Voisin biplane ($7,000 to $10,000).

American highlights include Maxfield Parrish’s poster for The Century/ Midsummer Holiday Number, depicting a young nude seated on a lawn screened by a grove of evergreens, 1897 ($2,500 to $3,500); and Evelyn Rumsey Cary’s allegorical depictions of moonlit young women in Pan-American Exposition / Buffalo, 1901 ($6,000 to $9,000); and Woman Suffrage, circa 1905 ($4,000 to $6,000).

Rounding out the sale are bicycle posters for Michelin, Liberator and Peugeot; and an assortment of Theophile-Alexandre Steinlen’s images featuring cats, among them the beloved Lait pur Stérilisé, in which cats beg at the knee of a little girl sipping milk from a bowl, Paris, 1894 ($12,000 to $18,000).

A fully illustrated color catalogue with information on bidding by mail or fax is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, Inc., 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, and may be viewed online at Swann Galleries’

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